JOTWELL: Thornburg on Schwartz on the information benefits of discovery

The new Courts Law essay comes from Elizabeth Thornburg (SMU), reviewing Joanna C. Schwartz, Introspection Through Litigation (Notre Dame Law Review), which explores the ways that discovery enables and incentivizes institutional litigants to examine and change their own actions and processes. I was particularly intrigued in how the substantive rules surrounding § 1983 litigation (notably Monell) actually undermine those information-gathering and "introspection" incentives.